Child abuse experts believe that only five per
cent of sex offenders are ever convicted of their crimes.

One American lawyer, Barbara Joel-Esam, is trying to change some of the
culture surrounding sex offence trials.

As head of the NSPCC?s Justice for Children Campaign, she believes that
the criminal justice system just isn?t geared to the needs of children:
?The biggest problem is children having to come to court, and the time
it takes, because that puts a lot of stress on them.?

The Justice team are campaigning for an improvement in current
legislation, to allow children to give all evidence on video: although a
child witness can give initial evidence via a video interview, they
still have to attend a court in person for cross examination by defence
lawyers.

These lawyers can use hostile adult language and questioning techniques
that may not be appropriate for a child. Judges and barristers also
often wear traditional regalia, such as wigs and gowns, which again can
intimidate a child witness.

Children and their carers need to be prepared for what goes on in court,
who everyone is, what they are likely to face - in terms that they
understand.

The NSPCC will try and show them the court surroundings beforehand,
although not all children are so lucky. Furthermore, the organisation
believes that existing policies and legislation could be tightened up
and used more efficiently.

?Another problem,? says Joel-Esam, ?is that the kids have a need for
therapy. However, there?s concern that it might taint their evidence. If
a child does have therapy and a defence lawyer knows, they will almost
certainly say in front of a jury, ?you?ve been told what to say, this
has changed your story hasn?t it?? They suggest evidence isn?t safe and
this is used very frequently.?

According to Joel-Esam, the CPS also says it doesn?t stop therapy, but
it wants to know what type it is. ?Even though there?s no law against
it, in practice there?s a lot of pressure that children and their
families feel to not get therapy, because of the risk that the
prosecution will fail because of it.?

?It depends on where you live, what kind of service you get as a child,
which is completely wrong?
? BARBARA JOEL-ESSAMF

Often, too much is left until the day of the trial, so the NSPCC has
developed a pre-trial checklist for judges and barristers to make it as
comfortable a process as possible; for example, how long can a child
give evidence before they need a break; what are the arrangements for
breaks; what is a child?s age and maturity; who will sit with them
during evidence; if video evidence will be used, can they use a TV link?
and so on. But too much is still left for the day itself:

?There?s no court where everything is in place,? says Joel-Esam. And if
that were not enough, the treatment you get depends on where you live:
?Part of the problem is that there isn?t any consistency across the
country. It depends on where you live, what kind of service you get as a
child, which is completely wrong.?

The NSPCC is pushing for proper support and preparation programmes for
child witnesses. A third of child witnesses don?t get any support at
all, and the rest get a whole range (variable). In Surrey, for example,
every single case goes from the police to NSPCC ?but that?s unusual.
It?s very much a patchwork at the moment.? The same as for treating
abusers.

Joel-Esam maintains that it is difficult to quantify what is happening,
?because the statistics kept are so hopeless.? NSPCC figures are
increasing for the number of children prepared by them for court, ?but
it?s hard to know why.? So no-one really knows why prosecutions are
failing in the numbers they do. She thinks that one Government
department should be co-ordinating both the legal and other responses to
child abuse. But that hasn?t happened yet - and no-one knows when it
will. ?For children not to have that chapter of their life come to a
conclusion is really hard on them.?